GMO myths and misinformation

Source: GMO Answers | Jun 19, 2014

You may have seen the images of GMOs on the Internet, with the most common being the needle and tomato. Oversized fruit, colored foods, combinations of fruits, Frankenstein characters, fish heads and fins and other Photoshopped images are used across to spread misinformation. Even some news outlets use images that misrepresent GMO technology.

GMO Answers is busting GMO myths and misinformation, helping consumers learn what is, and what isn't, a GMO, and providing answers to your GMO questions. These images help dispell some of the myths and misinformation, and you can learn more about GMOS at GMOAnswers.com[2].

1. Everyday GMOs

2. This is a GMO; this isn't.

<p>Biotechnology in plant agriculture has come to mean the process of intentionally making a copy of a gene for a desired trait in one plant or organism and using it in another plant. The result is a GMO (genetically modified organism).</p>

3. Are strawberries GMOs?

<p>There are only eight GM crops currently grown in the United States: corn, soybeans, cotton, canola, alfalfa, sugar beets, papaya, and squash.</p>

4. GMO seeds

<p>Farmers choose seeds based on what is best for their farms, market demand and local growing environments. Farmers select GMOs to reduce yield loss or crop damage from weeds, diseases, and insects, as well as from extreme weather conditions, such as drought. Farmers choose to use GMOs to reduce the impact of agriculture on their environment and their costs — by applying pesticides in more targeted ways, for example. </p>

5. Fish DNA and GMOs

<p>In the late ’80s–early ’90s, the company DNA Plant Technology used DNA from a fish, winter flounder, and inserted it into the DNA of a tomato in order to make the fruit frost-tolerant. This “fish tomato” never went into field testing or made it to market. No tomato in your grocery store is a GMO.